Museum Field Trips

Bison: Ecosystem Engineers (Recommended for K-12th grades)

Field Trip: Explore bison’s role in Nebraska’s past, present, and future! Explore Nebraska’s deep history and cultural connection to North America’s largest land mammal. Students will use their science skills to learn how these ecosystem engineers played a critical role in creating and maintaining Nebraska’s prairie ecosystem. Students redesign museum artifacts using natural resources and build a model of their designs!

Time: 60 Minutes
Tour size: 10 – 50 students

Pre-Visit (required): A pre-lesson is required for this field trip. Virtual visit with one of our museum educators or use our pre-made slide deck to discover how bison shape Nebraska’s ecosystem! Explore how bison help plants and other animals on the prairie.

Chronologically Nebraska (Recommended for 6-12th grades)

Field Trip: What year was Kool-Aid invented? Who was the first woman to earn an MA in anthropology from UNL? Test your knowledge and race through Nebraska History as you explore the Nebraska History Museum! Students will build their own timeline using our Chronologically Nebraska card game and the information you find in the museum!

Time: 60 Minutes
Tour size: 10 – 100 students

Curious Curators (Recommended for 3rd-5th grades)

Field Trip: Who are curators? What are artifacts? How do museums tell stories? Students will discover what curators do first-hand as they identify and analyze artifacts throughout the museum to curate their own exhibits about Nebraska.

Time: 60 minutes
Tour size: 10 – 75 students

Pre-Visit: Give your students more time in the exhibits with this pre-visit preparation! Meet virtually with one of our museum educators or use our pre-made slide deck to learn more about museums, objects, and curators. Then take some curator notes by observing a classroom object and recording the answers to three simple questions. Flexibly fit this 20-minute pre-visit activity into your day using a one-page lesson plan we’ll attach to your confirmation.

Exhibit Explorers (Recommended for K-5th grades)

Field Trip: Ready, set, find the artifacts! A museum educator will meet with your students to give them the background about the museum before releasing groups to explore the exhibits. Students will investigate up to three different floors with a scavenger hunt in this self-guided experience.

Time: 30 – 60 minutes
Tour Size: 10 – 100 students

Mystery in the Museum: Hidden Homestead (Recommended for 6th-12th grades)

Field Trip: History is full of mysteries. Can you solve a homestead mystery? Students will work in teams to learn more about the Homestead and Kinkaid Acts and African American homesteaders in Dewitty, Nebraska. Students will analyze primary and secondary sources to collect evidence, solve clues, and unlock a history mystery box.

Time: 60 minutes
Tour size: 10 – 75 students

Play Unplugged (Recommended for K-6th grades)

Field Trip: How did Nebraskans in the past keep themselves entertained before video games and TikTok? Students will discover how Nebraskans of all ages had fun in the past by working in small groups to research, analyze, and play historic games using a series of task cards.

Time: 60 minutes
Tour size: 10 – 50 students

Guided Museum Tours for Adults

Program:  With so much to see, what exhibit do you check out first? Let one of our museum educators show you. Your group will get a personal tour of all three floors of the Nebraska History Museum while an education member makes sure you don’t miss a thing!

Time: 30-60 minutes
Tour size: Minimum 10 participants
Cost: Museum admission, plus $5 per guest. (Free museum admission for History Nebraska members and community access groups.)